Thailand NGO seeks halt to Mekong dam project in Laos, as threat to Asean’s most vital waterway grows

[webfact]

Thailand NGO seeks halt to Mekong dam project in Laos, as threat to Asean’s most vital waterway grows

 

• Laos has seen a dam-building boom in recent decades - funded in part by neighbours China, Malaysia and Thailand - as it looks to cash in on energy resources 

 

• But ecological concerns, and the impact on local communities, have campaigners calling for a rethink on funding for the Luang Prabang dam project

 

Jitsiree Thongnoi

 

The Luang Prabang dam project on the Mekong in Laos. Photo: Shutterstock

 

A civic group in Thailand is petitioning the country’s financial institutions to withhold construction loans for the Luang Prabang dam project along the Mekong River in Laos amid warnings about the negative environmental risks the dams pose and the potential for the displacement of families on the river and loss of livelihoods.

 

The NGO Fair Finance Thailand earlier this month called on a number of financial institutions, including the central bank, to withhold loans until a feasibility study is done on what risk-mitigation measures have been taken for the project, which began construction last year, as well as on its “trans-boundary impact”.

 

“There is no necessity for Thailand to purchase electricity from the project,” the group said in a statement last week. “Thailand’s financial institutions will face risks concerning the environment, society, geopolitics and finance should they decide to support the project.”

 

Full story: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3122326/thailand-ngo-seeks-halt-mekong-dam-project-laos-threat-aseans

 

 

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[RichardColeman]

Am I reading this correct, that Thailand is loaning its neighbour to potentially block its water off ? 

 

If so, pretty sure when they have done it they will renegotiate terms of a cheaper loan for more water 

[sammieuk1]

That guy in the high vis has been fishing for days and only caught a rock ????

[swissie]

Nothing new. The Chinese have been persueing "Dammin-Projets" for a long time concerning the Mekong. To supply electricity back to China.
- Eventually the fish will not be able to go back to their "spawning-grounds" upstream.
The "Tonle-Sap" Lake will not be seasonally filled with the overflow of the Mekong anymore. (The richest sweet-water fishing ground in SE/Asia.)
1/4 of the Cambodian population depends on the fish-protein source that the rhythem of the Tonle-Sap lake in combination with the annual flooding of the Mekong provides.
- The Chinese "Steam-Roller" is a rolling. And the Cambodian Governement and the rest of the world is watching, knowing well what the long-term consequences will be.

[pacovl46]

I’ll never understand how it is legal to build that many detrimental dams along a river that runs through multiple countries!

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The NGO Fair Finance Thailand earlier this month called on a number of financial institutions, including the central bank, to withhold loans until a feasibility study is done on what risk-mitigation measures have been taken for the project, which began construction last year, as well as on its “trans-boundary impact”.

Cart before the horse?

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

I’ll never understand how it is legal to build that many detrimental dams along a river that runs through multiple countries!

 

[PETERTHEEATER]

For your elocution practice....Heow Neow Dam Lao?